


be the thing that buries me.

by sondersoflight



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: M/M, Non-Linear Narrative, nicky and joe sleeping together in two different centuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:53:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26105251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sondersoflight/pseuds/sondersoflight
Summary: “I need a minute.” Yusuf mutters in broken Italian. “It is very cold.”“A sword through the chest is fine but the cold is what gets you?” Nicolo says and he sounds almost like he is teasing.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 8
Kudos: 333





	be the thing that buries me.

**Author's Note:**

> nicky and joe sleeping together in two different centuries. the title is from a poem by hala alyan.

**i.**

It would be for the best anyway.

Dying.

Yusuf does not want to end up driven mad by the death of someone he was meant to kill anyway. War was cruel, crueler that he’d ever thought. At times, it’s difficult to remember what the fight was for.

This was crueler.

They are stranded somewhere – night has fallen, and Yusuf can feel the cold down to his bones. Not dying does not mean being invincible.

They’ve been trying to get out of the forest for days, not even sure how they ended up there, but each time they’ve ended up fighting – and the fight ends with one of them dead.

He still remembers the first time he killed Nicolo – how the blood had rushed out of him and he had fallen and then two minutes later he had risen. It had felt like an ocean had dried in his tongue. Then the sword had come down on him and his knees had given out.

Now after their blood has been shed over and over he has realized he does not wish to hurt Nicolo anymore.

It’s nearly night when Yusuf stops walking – it’s cold and he needs to rest even if there isn’t anything for miles and miles around them.

Nicolo looks at him puzzled, there is blood on his clothes and his face, Yusuf or his own, neither of them would be able to tell.

“I need a minute.” Yusuf mutters in broken Italian. “It is very cold.”

“A sword through the chest is fine but the cold is what gets you?” Nicolo says and he sounds almost like he is teasing.

Yusuf feels a slight tremor go through his body, his teeth are close to chattering. He lost most of the thick clothing he had on an earlier fight and he does not feel like asking Nicolo for anything now. He simply closes his eyes for a minute – trying to imagine he is anywhere else.

He falls asleep leaning against a trunk, dreaming of a warm beach and the sound of the ocean.

The first thing he realizes when he wakes up is that it’s night, dark covering everything around him. All he can see are some stars that peak behind the high trees and the embers of a fire Nicolo must have lit at some point while he was sleeping.

The second thing he notices is that, he is warm. As he slowly pulls himself out of his slumber he realizes why. Nicolo is lying behind him, one of his arms pulling Yusuf close. He feels the warmth the body besides him is giving him and relishes it in it.

Their legs are twisted together under the heavy weight of fur. He can feel the weight of Nicolo’s knee against his waist.

He turns slightly, careful to not disturb the quiet, and even just with the dying embers he sees the peaceful look on his face, how his hair falls softly across his forehead.

It’s strange the tickling pressure he feels in his chest as he stares at the lines of Nicolo’s face in the dark. He moves his hand to push him away slightly, put some distance between them and this heavy pressure Yusuf feels building under his skin, but when he does he notices that his fingers are not aching and numb – so he closes his eyes and lets himself have this. This little humanity amidst all of this – whatever it is they are going through.

For the first time in weeks he thinks – it could be for the best. Not dying.

This one night – he lets them both have this.

(And the next night, Nicolo tucks his face in Yusuf’s shoulder at some point and smiles. It sends vibrations through Yusuf’s body and for a moment he is frozen by the novelty and the realization, the sheer panic.

But then Nicolo tugs him down and kisses him sweetly and steals his worry out of him.)

**ii.**

When the sun is rising, the stray rays always filter slightly through the curtains.

It’s what Nicky likes the most about their house in Malta. He can hear the ocean and smell the salt first thing in the morning. It sweetly brings him out of his slumber every morning.

They fell asleep with the window open and he can hear people walking by on the street, talking loudly and laughing mixed with the sound of the waves crashing and the soft breeze. And he can feel Yusuf breathing softly besides him – the unmistakable sound Nick has memorized through the centuries.

Nicky opens his eyes.

Yusuf’s black hair is sticking up, pointing everywhere. It’s gotten a little long and it curls at the end, Nico loves to pull the little ringlet that forms behind Yusuf’s ear. His eyes are shut tight and his face is pressed against the pillow, trying to hide from the light slipping through the window.

He never thought he’d love to spend so much time watching someone sleep, but Yusuf makes him do so many things he never thought he’d want.

Yusuf’s eyelashes are resting against his cheek, lips red from being bitten mid sleep. Nicky can’t help but to sigh – Yusuf is beautiful, and he tells him plenty but it’s never enough. The first time was hard but once he’d said it, all the other times slip out without thought. His eyes slide down Yusuf’s face and he bites the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling when he spots the familiar freckles the sun has brought out on his cheeks.

The small constellation spreads out from one cheek to another, across his nose. He has no intention to wake Yusuf but he unconsciously leans forward and presses his thumb over Yusuf’s nose.

Yusuf scrunches his nose and a second later he opens an eye, a smile pulling at his lips.

“What?” He asks – voice still raspy with sleep.

“Nothing.” Nicky smiles and leans forward – to press a kiss over Yusuf’s nose. “Nothing at all.”

“You are very strange.” Yusuf says but he is still smiling when he settles against the pillow – their foreheads barely touching – and closes his eyes.


End file.
